Love does not boast

Boasting is bragging about the truth. It's exalting the highest truth about a person, place or things. The problem with boasting is that it ultimately pushes others down around us. It leaves people feeling like failures, or at the very least, inadequate. When we boast we are telling people that they don't add up. When we don't add up, relationship is impossible. Love does not boast because love is only about relationships.

One of the main concern I have after observing Christians over the last twenty years is that boasting has become a way of life. One of the biggest ways boasting is manifested is through what I call "God-told-me-ism." I am talking about people who feel that they have to boldy and bluntly announce to the world that "God told them" to do this or that. It seems with some people God dictates every jot and tittle of their lives. He tells them what clothes to wear, what road to take, what to order for lunch, and what pen to use when writing a cheque. The reason why they are so inclined to inform the rest that they are hearing from God not because they are but because they want to ensure that we believe that they are. The problem with doing so, they step on the hearts of everyone in the room. They leave people wondering why God doesn't love them or speak to them as much as He does that person. People walk away feeling there is something wrong with their Christian walk, and they ask themselves why they can't hear the voice of God with as much clarity as this person does. It causes people to give up because they feel a million miles behind. Ultimately, "God told me" people do more harm than good.

In the old testament, we read about how Moses went up to the mountain and great cloud covered the mountain. We read about how Elijah had an encounter with the prophets of Baal where he challenged them to call on their gods to burn up a sacrifice. We read about how Ezekiel had a vision of heaven where the glory of God filled the temple, and there were creatures suspended in midair giving praise and honor to God continuously. The seas roll back and leave a path of dry ground at His command, the mountains tremble at the sound of His name, and the hills melt like wax in His presence. The glory of the Lord fills the earth and nothing is impossible for Him.

But how does God wants you to relate to Him?

Can you relate to a great cloud? can you have intimacy with heavenly fire? Can you get close to a God who makes you melt? How does God want you to relate to Him?

The same way you would relate to a dirty, homeless carpenter. 

This is precisely why God became man. He wanted us to know Him for Him. In Christ, God became nothing so He could have real intimacy with you. Jesus is the center core of who God is in His heart. He desires true intimacy with you so much that He shed all His outward glory and splendor so that you could make a clear minded choice of whether or not to have a relationship with Him. God became something a little lower than you in order to lift you up! He not only became man, but He became a servant of men and then died a criminal's death on the cross. One of the last things we see Jesus doing just before His crucification was perhaps the most astonishing example of a non-boasting God in all of Scripture. He was on His hands and knees washing dirty feet. God does not boast about who or what He is.

God never boast about what he went through to reconcile you to Him. The account of crucifixion lasts only a few sentences in the Bible but the result of resurrection is seen throughout the entire New Testament. God does not boast about the cross, He downplays it, and He rejoices in the possibilities of relationship with you today because of the resurrection.


"extracts from Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford"